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SHERMAN, TEXAS—The annual Austin College/ACCares Spring AIDS Quilt program will be held Wednesday, April 12, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Small Chapel inside Wynne Chapel. Local AIDS quilts will be on display in the chapel, and various readings and poetry will be presented in commemoration. Musical entertainment by Bad Hat will follow, along with raffle tickets sales and drawings, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the Pouch Club of Wright Campus Center. Both segments of the program are free and open to the public. For information, contact Roger Platizky, Austin College professor of English and program coordinator, at (903) 813-2426.
The quilts on display have been made by people in the community in memory of friends and family members lost to AIDS, mostly in Grayson County, in the past 25 years. “Texas has the fourth highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the nation,” Platizky said, adding that although deaths have decreased, especially among American infants and pregnant women, because of new treatments, the number of minority teenagers contracting HIV is rising again. “In our global society millions of men, women, and children of all ages, classes, genders, ethnicities, and sexual preferences are living with AIDS,” he said. “Some are still being stigmatized and severely discriminated against.”
Raffle ticket sales at this annual event support the Simbaradenga Newstart Children’s Home AIDS Orphanage in Zimbabwe, Africa. Which ACCARES sponsors with the Callie Clinic of Sherman.
ACCares is an Austin College organization formed to make members of the college community aware of the impact of AIDS/HIV on their lives and others in the community. The group, which encourages students to be educated and compassionate about AIDS/HIV, has sponsored the annual Spring AIDS Quilt program for 21 years. The group initially was known as the AIDS Task Force.
Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned an excellent reputation for academic rigor, international study, pre-professional preparation, leadership development, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 36 percent of students representing ethnic minorities. A residential student body of 1,250 students and a faculty of more than 100 allow a 12:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. The College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. Founded in 1849, the College is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.
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